ftlib-pskreporter

This is a systemd service that reads the output produced by the KA9Q ft_lib decoders and converts it into data suitable for submission to PSK Reporter.

The current version supports the following modes:

• FT4
• FT8
• WSPR
• JS8

The current version uses TCP in order to improve reliability.

Installation

Various files need to be edited and then copied.

Add your callsign, locator and antenna details to the appropriate *-pskreporter.conf files.

The files in /etc/radio/ should be modified to contain the operator's callsign, locator and antenna description.

sudo cp ft*conf /etc/radio
sudo cp wspr*conf /etc/radio
sudo cp js8*conf /etc/radio
sudo cp pskreporter@.service /etc/systemd/system/

Once that is done, the services can be started:

sudo systemctl start pskreporter@ft4
sudo systemctl start pskreporter@ft8
sudo systemctl start pskreporter@wspr
sudo systemctl start pskreporter@js8

If everything is working correctly, the services can then be enabled:

sudo systemctl enable pskreporter@ft4
sudo systemctl enable pskreporter@ft8
sudo systemctl enable pskreporter@wspr
sudo systemctl enable pskreporter@js8

Configuration

Example FT8 configuration:

FILE=/var/log/ft8.log
MODE=ft8
CALLSIGN=N1DQ-999
LOCATOR=FN42hn
ANTENNA="200ft Longwire"

Example JS8 configuration:

FILE=/var/log/js8.log
MODE=js8
CALLSIGN=N1DQ-999
LOCATOR=FN42hn
ANTENNA="200ft Longwire"

JS8 input format

JS8 input records are expected to have the following format:

2025/10/30 17:47:30 -20.0 0.3 A 7.080208 KD6XU/MM RG85 ~ KDVVV/MM:

The fields are interpreted as follows:

Field	Description
Timestamp	UTC date and time
SNR	Signal-to-noise ratio (dB)
Offset	Time offset
Mode	JS8 submode
Frequency	Frequency in MHz
Callsign	Decoded callsign
Locator	Maidenhead grid square
Message	Message contents

Service operation

The pskreporter@.service unit uses the instance name to select the corresponding configuration file.

For example:

sudo systemctl start pskreporter@js8

loads:

/etc/radio/js8-pskreporter.conf

Similarly:

sudo systemctl start pskreporter@ft8

loads:

/etc/radio/ft8-pskreporter.conf